❼ The Innocent Trap that Catches People that Like to Help Other People

Live to Make a Difference Help Other People
When I go back and read certain things that I wrote on this blog two or three years ago, I find my eyes growing a little rounder and my jaw dropping a little lower.

Great examples of this are:

  1. Something I wrote about money
  2. and this other thing I wrote about failure.

I wonder how come I had knowledge of these things 2 years ago when I am only just now becoming completely confident in my application of the concepts they contain.

I am very surprised that two years can pass between the time that I understand something and the time I begin to do the thing with peace and confidence.

Why did it take two years instead of, say, two months?

For me, the answer is the whole point of this blog post.

I didn’t know the difference between concepts that life was teaching me and concepts that I had achieved some level of mastery in.

Without an understanding of this distinction, here’s what invariably happens to people that like to help other people:

We find something helpful and immediately become eager to share.

Then we become so engaged in helping other people with our knowledge to the point that we fail to pause and deeply apply the knowledge to our own lives.

Or if we do apply the knowledge, we do so with an extraordinary amount of fear and anxiety because we didn’t do the work to fully learn what life was actually teaching.

This is a big trap because life is a relentless teacher

It will keep teaching the same thing over and over again until we get it.

I love helping people but I also love making progress in my own life.

So now, before I try to help others with something I know, I pause and ask myself

Is this something that life is still teaching me? or is this something that I have some level of mastery in?

The key is to recognize what life is trying to teach (and learn it) before indulging in the fulfillment that comes from of sharing and helping other people.

2 thoughts on “❼ The Innocent Trap that Catches People that Like to Help Other People

  1. This is a very relatable article. I have also had similar life ‘revelations’ of things I assumed I had known and advocated to others, without realizing I was lacking an intricate understanding.

    Now – thanks to you – I understand this is very normal and is in-fact grouped in two realms (teaching & being able to master what is being taught for personal use).

    I’ll only add to your final paragraph; in most instances, it is difficult to fully grasp the lessons life is teaching us but this does not impede on our ability to effectively share or communicate this lesson with others, this may be the perfect opportunity to learn for personal use.

Comments are closed.